FP’s William Watson: Freakonautos

University of Chicago economist Steven D. Levitt, of Freakonomics fame — and presumably wealth, since his books of that name have sold more than five million copies — has a new paper out with two less famous Chicago colleagues (Chad Syverson and John List) on a question that’s a major concern for Canadians: productivity.

One way being famous likely helps your research is that when you come calling people are willing to share their data with you. Levitt is famous for ingenious collection and use of data, whether regarding Chicago prostitutes’ working patterns or the sometimes suspicious distribution of wins and losses among Japanese sumo wrestlers.

For this latest study, just published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, he and his colleagues managed to get access to extremely detailed defect data from an assembly plant of a major auto producer. Read more

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.